Production Weekly ha anunciado de que Guy Pearce estará en la cinta del director Roger Donaldson denominada “The Hungry Rabbit Jumps”.

Esta película se trata de un hombre (quien será Nicolas Cage) cuya esposa (January Jones) es la víctima de un horroroso crimen. Poco a poco, el se involucra con una organización de vigilantes para tomar venganza.

“The hungry Rabbit Jumps” comenzará a filmarse en diciembre en Nueva Orleans.

On November 15:

1515  Thomas Wolsey wass invested as a Cardinal.

1532 Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Inca leader Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca.

1533  Francisco Pizarro arrived in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.

1708 William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was born.

1769 Captain James Cook raised the British flag at Mercury Bay and claimed the area in the name of King George III.

1791 The first U.S Catholic college, Georgetown University, opened.

1854 the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, was given the royal concession.

1861 The first issue of the Otago Daily Times was published.

1889 Brazil was declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II  was deposed in a military coup.

1891  Erwin Rommel, German field marshal, “The Desert Fox”, was born.

 Iskander Mirza, first President of Pakistan, was born.

1903  Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer, was born.

1905 Mantovani, Italian-born composer, was born.

1926  The NBC radio network opened with 24 stations.

1928  C. W. McCall, American singer, was born.

1932 Petula Clark, English singer, was born.

1942 Daniel Barenboim, Argentine-born conductor and pianist, was born.

1942 First flight of the Heinkel He 219.

1942  The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.

1945  Roger Donaldson, Australian- born New Zealand film producer/director.

1945  Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad, Norwegian (By Birth) singer (ABBA) was born.

1960  The Polaris missile was test launched.

1966  Gemini 12 splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

1971 Intel released the world’s first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.

1983  Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded. Recognised only by Turkey.

 1985 The Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.

1988 The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, was launched in the Netherlands.

1990 Space Shuttle Atlantis launched with flight STS-38.

2002  – Hu Jintao became general secretary of the Communist Party of China.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

The Bounty in all respects may not be considered to be triumph of film. From time to time it drags on but what sets it apart from its predecessors is that its portrayal of Bligh carries much more depth. The Bounty does not simply show men as good and evil but as more complex figures in the at times, wildest of circumstances.

Bligh is played here by Anthony Hopkins and is done so wonderfully. In the movie he is at once being court-marshaled (Laurence Olivier appears in these sequences) for the events that took place aboard ship. Unlike the past films here his actions seem to have more logical motivations rather than him being a man taking pride and enjoying the task of inflicting pain on his subordinates. Them being played by Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Yet, for all the depth Hopkins displays in his performance and talent shown, Mel Gibson comes up short and hardly retains presence periodically. His role requires that he take on the role of a leader but instead fades into the background time after time.

I like the way the movie was directed taking the approach of using flashbacks from the view of Hopkins. It gave the movie a sort of originality which has proven to be very hard to do with remakes, in particular this story. This film though was strictly carried by the performance of Anthony Hopkins and his complex portrayal of Captain Bligh.

January Jones is jumping with rabbits.

The “Mad Men” star has been cast to play the female lead opposite Nicolas Cage in vigilante thriller “The Hungry Rabbit Jumps.” The move follows her casting in the thriller “Unknown White Male.”

“Rabbit” is slated to begin shooting in early December, giving Jones enough of a window before the late-January start of “Unknown White Male.”

The film centers on a man (Cage) who, after a crime is perpetrated on his wife, gets more than he bargained for when he enlists a vigilante group to help him settle the score. Jones will play the wife. “It’s a very meaty role,” Stern said, “not just reactive, but active.”

Roger Donaldson is attached to direct from Robert Tanen’s script.

Jones is best known for playing the seductive suburban mother Betty Draper on “Mad Men.” She has had bit small roles in features but never played a feature lead part. The actress, who is gaining notoriety for a splashy spread in the current issue of GQ (that’s where the photo is from), has a role in The Boat That Rocked aka Pirate Radio and also had a part in the sports tear-jerker “We Are Marshall.”

Sinopse:

Filme que conta a história real de um homem neozelandês que com coragem e dedicação realizou seu grande sonho ao participar de uma competição disputada de motociclistas em Salt Lake, Utah, nos Estados Unidos, conhecida como Speed Week, nos anos 60. Ele é Burt Munro, em interpretação elogiada de Anthony Hopkins, um homem que pega uma motocicleta Indian 1920 e monta toda ela com seus próprios recursos para deixá-la pronta para a competição. (Durante as filmagens, o filho do competidor visitou o set e chegou a chorar quando viu Anthony representando seu pai, tamanha a fidelidade de sua interpretação).

- Bom filme! Muito boa a interpretação de Anthony Hopkins.

- Assistido 27/09/2009

According to Heat Vision, Nicolas Cage has bowed out of playing the villain in Columbia Pictures The Green Hornet.

The film is being helmed by Michel Gondry.

It seems the actor and the studio couldn’t come to terms on the actor’s deal. Columbia is currently looking for a replacement.

The Green Hornet seems to be plagued with changes in cast in crew. First Stephen Chow was going to be Kato, then direct it, then not direct it, then he left it completely. Now this with Cage. A bit of a shame really as it would be good to see Cage as a bad guy again. His manic tics, shouting, pointing and furrowed brow could have worked quite well for this film.

The film just started shooting in Los Angeles and no scenes have been shot that contained Cage’s character.

Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz and Jay Chou star in this film.

However, as well as Kick-Ass, Drive Angry and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Cage has also signed onto The Hungry Rabbit Jumps.

Heat Vision blog reports on the film. Cage is “a man whose wife is the victim of a brutal crime. He subsequently becomes entangled with an underground vigilante organization.”

This one will be directed by Roger Donaldson (Thirteen Days, The Bounty, The Bank Job).

Crítica de Cinema – Texto publicado originalmente no Judão, em 15/05/2008.

Os fãs dos filmes de pancadaria B, com ou sem cérebro (os filmes, não os fãs, tá?) são unânimes em saudar aquele inglês careca e com cara de poucos amigos chamado Jason Statham como uma das grandes promessas do gênero. Descoberto por Guy Ritchie em Jogos, Trapaças e Dois Canos Fumegantes (1998), Statham logo caiu nas graças do público, que o coroou em longas hilários como Snatch – Porcos e Diamantes e Carga Explosiva. Ah, e vai dizer que você não soltou umas boas gargalhadas com Adrenalina que, de tão tosco e tão ridículo, tornou-se disparado o filme mais legal de 2006? E olhe que nem me refiro “àquela” cena em que o indivíduo oferece uns afagos sinceros à gloriosa Amy Smart na frente de uma cacetada de gente…

Bem, conhecendo um pouco da escola-Jason-Statham-de-interpretação (!), já dá pra ter uma idéia do que esperar de Efeito Dominó (The Bank Job, 2008), certo?

Mais ou menos. O que acontece é que Efeito Dominó (um excelente título nacional, por sinal), baseado em uma intrigante história real ocorrida nos anos 70 e supostamente escondida a sete chaves pelas autoridades britânicas durante 30 e poucos anos, tenta passar longe da excentricidade, da fantasia e do humor de fitas como o próprio Adrenalina, e ganha vários pontos por isto. Este fator chega até a causar certa estranheza no espectador desavisado que correrá ao cinema na esperança de encontrar um pega-pra-capá do mais puro nível B.

O grande problema desta produção é o tratamento dado pelo roteiro desenvolvido a quatro mãos pelos veteranos Dick Clement e Ian La Frenais. A dupla, responsável tanto por trabalhos geniais como The Commitments – Loucos Pela Fama, Ainda Muito Loucos e Por Água Abaixo quanto por troços horrorosos como Across The Universe e Excesso de Bagagem, parece não se esforçar o bastante e usa e abusa sem dó de todos os 752 clichês do gênero, o que deixa a fita com aquele gostinho de “putz, já cansei de ver isso aí antes”. Sério, é possível adivinhar todo e qualquer passo do roteiro com antecedência. Soma-se a isto a direção burocrática de Roger Donaldson (o mesmo de Sem Saída)…

E olha que a trama até tinha potencial, viu? Embora a sinopse oficial revele superficialmente uma história do tipo “criminosos carismáticos realizam um grande e inacreditável roubo”, bem aos moldes dos milhares de Onze Homens e um Segredo da vida, a primeira seqüência já entrega que o buraco é mais embaixo. Logo, temos Terry Leather (Jason Statham), sujeito boa-praça com um passado misterioso e muitas dívidas que, em 1971, recebe uma proposta da enigmática tetéia Martine Love (Safron Burrows): liderar um ousado assalto a um banco londrino recheado de dinheiro e jóias. A segurança do plano e o fácil acesso ao cofre – o banco passará dois dias sem alarmes devido a um esquema de manutenção – tornam a oferta irrecusável. Assim, Terry recruta um pequeno grupo de confiança e manda bala.

O que Terry não sabe é que Martine tem outro interesse no roubo. Na verdade, a sujeita é mero pau-mandado de um grupo de homens poderosos interessados no conteúdo de uma das caixas que está no cofre; conteúdo este que revela a ligação (e que ligação, hehehe!) entre um membro da Família Real Britânica e um genocida de esquerda auto-intitulado Michael X (Peter De Jersey). O perigo de este material cair em mãos erradas é tão inimaginável que a turminha de Terry nem faz idéia de que o assalto não só é de conhecimento do MI5 como também é supervisionado pelos mesmos – e como se sabe que esse tipo de gente costuma simplesmente “eliminar evidências” assim que seus planos são concluídos…

Este é, sem dúvidas, o menor dos problemas para o bando – por um enorme azar, o tal banco assaltado parece ser o preferido dos bandidos, chantagistas e assassinos da cidade (!?). Ou seja, as caixas roubadas no cofre contêm outras podreiras de gente bem mais perigosa que os caras do Serviço Secreto. Documentos que revelam a corrupção de policiais da Scotland Yard, fotos de figurões sendo sodomizados por “mocinhas da Casa da Luz Vermelha”, coisas assim… tudo muito leve, inocente e angelical, como se pode perceber (!). Sabendo que os assaltantes têm em mãos material suficiente para virar a Inglaterra de cabeça pra baixo, alguém aí duvida que mais ou menos metade do lado escuro do país transformará a equipe de Terry Leather em alvo?

Trama bacana, não? Pois é. Pena que o resultado final é bastante prejudicado pela insistência do roteiro em desgastar os clichês que infestam o gênero policial. Os vilões, por exemplo, são extremamente caricatos e comportam-se como se fossem encarnações do Anticristo (!), em especial o exageradíssimo Michael X. Já os “mocinhos” (no caso, os assaltantes) são tão simpáticos que o espectador até esquece que eles estão, de fato, COMETENDO UM CRIME. Só faltou o George Clooney aparecer no cantinho da tela, fazendo biquinho e sugerindo um novo golpe no cassino mais próximo…

Isto, sem contar que você já sabe quem morre, quem se dá bem e quem vai “tomar na lomba” com 20 minutos de projeção. E sem contar a estrutura narrativa da última meia hora de filme, exatamente idêntica a todos os longas que retratam pessoas inocentes acusadas de crimes que não cometeram. E sem contar as poucas mas forçadíssimas seqüências de pancadaria-ninja a la Carga Explosiva, que não fazem o menor sentido nesta história mas precisam estar lá porque, afinal, o astro da película é Jason Statham. É tal qual os filmes do Jack Black, que SEMPRE precisam ter uma cena perdida em que ele aparece cantando. Pô, não precisava disso!

Entretanto, seria exagero dizer que Efeito Dominó é um filmeco somente pelo número elevado de clichês por metro quadrado. Há vários bons momentos que justificam uma visita – a execução do assalto, por exemplo, é simples, mas muito bem bolada; as seqüências da ambulância na porta do banco e do “quase flagrante” quase fazem o espectador prender a respiração; e os personagens que compõem o bando são extremamente carismáticos (à exceção de um deles, o chatíssimo Dave, vivido por Daniel Mays). E a trilha sonora, que reúne faixas clássicas de ótimas bandas como T.Rex e The Kinks, são um atrativo à parte.

Só o que é de se lamentar em Efeito Dominó é que, dada a importância dos acontecimentos, este capítulo negro na história recente da Inglaterra merecia um retrato mais contundente e original. O que poderia ser um filme obrigatório tornou-se apenas mais uma fitinha policial similar a tantas que caem direto nas prateleiras das videolocadoras – e como Efeito Dominó se leva a sério demais, nem dá pra se divertir com o bom e velho Jason Statham que conhecemos de tosqueiras como Adrenalina. Que Indiana Jones o quê, eu tenho saudade é do Chev Chelios!

THE BANK JOB • ING • 2008
Direção de Roger Donaldson • Roteiro de Dick Clement e Ian La Frenais
Elenco: Jason Statham, Safron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner, Alki David, Michael Jibson.
111 min. • Distribuição: Imagem Filmes.

The Bank Job might be the first film where Jason Statham plays a realistic character, a person whose relationships don’t involve public sex and time travel. Now, despite that handicap The Bank Job is an entertaining heist film, packed with just about everything. My father saw this opening weekend back in March and left me a voicemail afterwards espousing it’s virtues. To quote, “This movie had everything, naked women, guns, money, fighting, black people, white people.” He is one hundred percent correct, The Bank Job has all these things and more. By more, I mean “merkins”.

The Bank Job professes to be based on a true story, though it more accurately takes a true event whose details are largely unknown and fills in the blanks. Set in early 1970’s London, Jason Statham is Terry, just a normal guy with wife and kids who runs a auto body shop. He’s in debt to some bad people, and jumps at a chance to be involved in bank heist being arranged by former flame Martine (Saffron Burrows). Of course, it’s not just any old heist, it’s actually being secretly backed by the British government, who will use Martine as their inside man to procur some nasty photos of a certain Royal family member that are being used as blackmail by vibrant black revolutionary Michael X.

Things both do and don’t go as planned as the heist progresses, of course. Director Roger Donaldson ably juggles all the players, and manages to maintain a good flow and avoids any confusion in regards to motivations and character involvement. It reminded me of a Guy Ritchie movie with less style and more focus on just telling a good story. This is a rare example of workmanlike direction being a positive thing.

Statham gets some actorly moments, including a scene with his wife where he must attempt to explain away not just his crimes but supposed infidelity as well. Seeing Statham handle this scene without exploding into a torrent of curse words and bloody fists was similar to seeing Keanu Reeves smile in Something’s Got To Give: it’s like a goddamn optical illusion. I don’t want to say he’s got range, but let’s say he has more range than I expected. The rest of the cast nails their roles, though some wear the 70’s garbs better than others. The IMDB clued me in that during a scene in a brothel, most of the nude females had to wear merkins on account to being too shaved, which would have been an anachronism. Donaldson apparently had a lot of trouble with this scene as the merkins kept falling off. Must have been torture, Roger. Speaking of anachronism’s,  Saffron Burrows face.

That does not look natural. The most hard to swallow aspect of the whole film is the idea that Burrows is some sort of model that men can’t stop lusting after. That’s the face that launched a thousand “You looked different from across the pub” responses, not a lusty rendezvous in a bank vault. Saffron Burrow’s face was at times so distracting that I really wished any of the characters would remark, “Your cheek bones are crazy”, if to only sate my anxiety.

For a Jason Statham movie, The Bank Job moves at a slightly more leisurely pace but still has scenes where a man is tortured, another is kicked repeatedly in the stomach, and a third character is killed with a machete. You were right Dad, this movie did have just about everything.

At a time when we’re hearing a lot of news about and even living with the consequences of being irresponsible, be it on a personal, corporate, national or global scale, and at a point where people are questioning institutions and practices that have been around for decades and even centuries, has the word responsibility lost all meaning and relevance? 

When many people feel we can no longer place our trust in elected officials or in government and financial institutions, who do we turn to to help redefine what it means to take responsibility for ourselves, our families, our communities, our planet? 

A Santa Monica, California based media company with a documented commitment to worthy causes and an insurance company with an unusual focus on the greater good have teamed up with a roster of visionary directors to create a series of short films about the basic nature and anatomy of responsibility and what forms it takes in our daily lives. The focus of this page and its affiliated sites is to create a dialogue with you about the importance of personal responsibility and all the ways it can make the world a better place, one person and one life experience at a time. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and hope you’ll be inspired to share these films and your own stories with others. 

About The Company

Independent Media is renowned for introducing feature film talent to the advertising marketplace. In addition to the directors mentioned above, the company exclusively represents Guillermo Arriaga, Peter Chelsom, Mark Forster, David Frankel, Francois Girard, Scott Hicks, Bronwen Hughes, Janusz Kaminski, Richard Kelly, Danny Leiner, Doug Liman, Elias Merhige, Wally Pfister, David Wain, and Baillie Walsh, among others. 

Independent Media has garnered some of the most coveted awards in the advertising industry including multiple Gold Lions at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, a Primetime Emmy Award, numerous AICP Awards, and pencils at the British D&AD Awards. Perhaps most meaningfully, work produced by Independent Media has been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.  

Independent Media’s clients include major players in the advertising business including BBDO, BBH, Carmichael Lynch, Crispin Porter, DDB, Fallon, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, GSD&M, JWT, Leo Burnett, McCann, Modernista!, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA\CHIAT\DAY, Venables Bell & Partners and Wieden + Kennedy, to name a few. 

In addition to traditional broadcast commercials, Independent Media also produces long-format content for the World Wide Web, music videos, short films, and feature-length documentaries for theatrical release. Independent’s branding work includes campaigns for Pirelli and SKYY Vodka and features such talent as Uma Thurman, Hugh Laurie and Claudia Schiffer. More recently, the five film campaign for Liberty Mutual.  Independent’s feature work includes ‘Home Movie’ which was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival prior to its theatrical release.  More recently, Independent produced “Glass”, a documentary on acclaimed composer Phillip Glass. The film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival prior to its theatrical release and made the shortlist of 12 documentaries in consideration for the 2009 Oscar Nomination.     

Committed to important environmental and social causes, Independent Media also produces numerous public service announcements for such groups as the Ad Council, the Martin Luther King National Memorial, New York City Film & Tourism, the United Way and the Boys and Girls Clubs, AARP, and Al Gore’s Live Earth (including a 40 spot package with music by Madonna, and featuring Will Ferrell, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter and Ben Affleck, among others).  Most recently, Independent Media finished a multi city campaign to help secure Chicago’s bid to bring the 2016 Olympics to the United States.

Independent Media is based in Santa Monica, California. 

Why Responsibility? What Does It Mean? Why Is It Important?

As an insurance company, we at Liberty Mutual like responsible people. Because people who believe in doing the right thing don’t just make better people, they make better customers. But the idea of responsibility can be difficult to define. What does it mean? Why is it important? These aren’t questions that can be easily addressed or agreed upon. There are a lot of differing opinions and beliefs involved. And while we may never uncover any definitive answers, we believe the questions are still worth asking.


How It Began


In 2006, Liberty Mutual created a TV commercial about people doing things for strangers. The response was overwhelming. We received thousands of positive emails and letters from people all over the country commenting on the ads.


We thought, if one TV spot can get people thinking and talking about responsibility, imagine what could happen if we went a step further? So we created a series of short films, and this website, as an exploration of what it means to do the right thing.

Roger Donaldson – El Gran Golpe (The Bank Job, 2007)

El robo de la Baker Street en Londres en 1971 fue uno de los casos policiales más sonados en Inglaterra. Un grupo de ladrones robó las cajas de seguridad de la bóveda del Lowell Bank, llevándose un cuantioso botín. Al poco tiempo, la Corona Británica y el Gobierno imponieron silencio por decreto por sobre los medios y la policía: el caso fue archivado y cualquier información acerca del hecho fue suprimida – por un largo tiempo, se desconocían los nombres de los autores del robo.

Las razones por este inesperado silencio han dado pie a miles de conspiraciones, ninguna comprobada hasta el día de hoy. El Gran Golpe, del australiano Roger Donaldson, es una hipótesis acerca de lo ocurrido.

A primera vista, esta parece ser otra producción de Guy Ritchie, la del género de “ladrones-con-onda” que los ingleses hacen particularmente bien. Ahí está la pandilla de carismáticos ladrones, el habitual escenario de los barrios bajos londinenses donde tipos comunes y trabajadores hacen de todo para ganarse el pan; los mismos acentos indescifrables, el mismo aire relajado y con toques de humor mientras el grupo ejecuta el plan – cavar un túnel hacia la bóveda del banco. La presencia de Jason Statham, quien prácticamente le debe su carrera de tipo duro a películas de este corte, es lo que finalmente le da un aire de familiaridad.

Pero las apariencias engañan: el robo es sólo el comienzo. Y una vez que el botín salga a la luz – en este caso, fotos comprometedoras de la Princesa Margarita ligadas a un peligroso activista negro de nombre Michael X – el film se vuelve una intriga llena de espionaje y giros inesperados. La pandilla es perseguida por todos – el servicio secreto, la realeza, mafiosos y policías corruptos – y los ladrones carismáticos se verán en un grave peligro.

Donaldson cuenta esta complicada historia con sorprendente claridad; y a diferencia de Ritchie y otros, que hubiesen convertido una historía así en un frenético videoclip en movimiento, deja que los hechos fluyan y el relato se cuente por sí solo sin lucirse con la cámara.

Jason Statham es Terry Leather, dueño de un fallido taller de autos que acepta participar por necesidad. Es el típico papel de matón por el que se ha hecho conocido, pero en este caso, se encuentra de nuevo en su hábitat del bajo mundo londinense, lo que hace de su trabajo mucho más natural.Terry, con esposa e hijos a cuestas, se convierte en el personaje más redondo que ha interpretado Statham hasta ahora, sin alejarse demasiado de lo que suele hacer.

Ni Terry ni sus amigos son “bacanes” de película – son tipos trabajadores y adeudados sin otra manera de salir adelante, metidos en una situación mucho más grande y peligrosa de lo que esperaban. Esto los humaniza y al tratarse de una historia veridica, uno está en suspenso por dos horas queriendo saber hacia donde va la trama y como es que estos ladrones van a poder salirse con la suya.

Donaldson y sus guionistas, que aseguran haber trabajado con misteriosas fuentes que prefieren no revelar, recrean el crimen con bastante veracidad (además de la época, capturando perfectamente el Londres setentero), aunque haciendo ciertas concesiones para acomodar un final a todas luces, feliz, aunque no para todos los personajes.

Las repercusiones del robo de Baker Street fueron monumentales: Scotland Yard inició una purga de oficiales corruptos, lo que significó más de la mitad de sus efectivos. Las vidas privadas de miembros del gobierno y la realeza se convirtieron en la comidilla de todos y hoy en día, el caso se ha vuelto una leyenda urbana.

Existe en la película un deseo de ahondar más, de que los hechos van mucho más allá de un simple robo – las bóvedas del banco al parecer contienen los trapos sucios de casi toda Inglaterra – por lo que resulta fascinante seguir el caso y sus implicaciones.

El Gran Golpe se enmarca dentro de lo que son las películas de robos, pero al no caricaturizar a sus personajes e incluir una trama llena de misterios y no tan simple como se pueda ver a primera vista, resulta bastante entretenida y una de las mejores sorpresas en nuestra cartelera en lo que va del año.

Por Ernesto Zelaya

BREAKING INTO HOLLYWOOD WITH A SELF-FUNDED SHORT FILM? IMPOSSIBLE!!

And of course, where would I be without my fabulous leading man?

Craig has worked with Peter Jackson and Roger Donaldson.

 He’s starred opposite actors of the caliber of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody, Josh Hartnett, Dougray Scott, Saffron Burrows, Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement, Kerry Fox and Melanie Lynsky. (To name but a few.)

And he was brilliant. I’m constantly reminded how lucky I am to be able to work with people like Craig and Lisa (and Lynette Forday, Narelle Ahrens, Mike Edward) who’ll support “small” projects like this and give it the same energy and commitment that they give the big budget films and TV series that they regularly appear in. It’s a credit to their giving nature and their incredible professionalism and I salute and thank them for it.

Alan discusses an upcoming scene with Craig Hall

A group of small time hoods are secretly conned into robbing a bank so that MI6 can get their hands on some incriminating photos of some royalty. Along the way the crooks manage to get their hands on some more photos that can prove just as damaging.

Directed by – Roger Donaldson

Written by – Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais

Starring – Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner, Alki David, Michael Jibson, Georgia Taylor, Richard Lintern, Peter Bowles, Alistair Petrie, Hattie Morahan, Julian Lewis Jones, Andrew Brooke, Rupert Frazer

Ah yes, my unhealthy man crush on Jason Statham continues. He’d really have to make a terrible, terrible movie for me to hate it. This plays out like a poor mans Oceans Eleven. Obviously the bank heist itself plays a major part but there’s so many other little stories going on that intertwine together so well. It’s a clever and well constructed script that had me wondering how they would get themselves out of each new situation that turned up.

The characters are all distinct and entertaining to watch and everyone plays well off each other. You really get the sense that they’ve all been friends for a long time. There’s a good balance of humour that doesn’t go over the top and enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat. What was the most interesting part is that it’s based on a true story and one of the special features of the DVD is a little history on the events. Obviously there’s some embellishment on the part of the screenwriters to make an entertaining story but just knowing that a group of guys actually pulled off this heist was intriguing.

The funny part is that they end up stealing from safety deposit boxes that nobody really wound up claiming. Apparently people like to store some things in deposit boxes that they’d rather not have anyone else know about and were reluctant to come forward to get what was rightfully theirs. It’s a well put together heist flick but it’s the acting that puts it ahead of all the rest and is a strong recommendation on my part.

Under the marquee – Will

Buy at AllPosters.com


Click here to buy Cocktail DVD

Tom Cruise is Brian Flanagan, an young and confident bartender who, with help from a seasoned entrepreneur of the night, it is offered in most of Manhattan Upper East Side. But when it moves to Jamaica and meets Jordan, an independent artist, their vivid romance brings a new perspective to the world egocentric bartender. It realizes that he have found someone he could teach important truths about love, of happiness and, more importantly, it can teach those who Brian Flanagan really is.
Directed by Roger Donaldson.
Casting:
Tom Cruise
Bryan Brown
Elisabeth Shue
Lisa Banes
Laurence Luckinbill
Kelly Lynch
Gina Gershon
Ron Dean
Robert Donley
Ellen Foley
Andrea Morse
Chris Owens

Nell’ottobre del 1962, il mondo visse tredici giorni sull’orlo della terza guerra mondiale: l’installazione da parte dell’U.R.S.S. di missili nucleari a Cuba, portò a un breve ma pericoloso braccio di ferro tra il presidente degli Stati Uniti J.F. Kennedy e il segretario per PCUS Kruscev. Ovunque la popolazione attese con ansia l’esito del grave scontro politico, diplomatico e militare. La vicenda rivive attraverso il punto di vista di Kenneth O’Donnell, segretario particolare del presidente.

Edizione ex noleggio garantito.

Les Voyeurs #47 – 10^ème Rencontres Internationales du Cinéma des Antipodes
Émission diffusée le jeudi 16 octobre 2008 à 18h
rediffusée le samedi 18 octobre 2008 à 10h

Actualité

- Décès de Guillaume Depardieu.
- Tokyo : triptyque de Michel Gondry, Leos Carax & Bong Joon-Ho, à l’affiche depuis le 15 octobre au Sémaphore.
- 7e Fête du Cinéma d’Animation 2008 : du 22 octobre au 3 novembre. 1e projection au Vigan le 22 octobre. Fête mondiale organisée dans le Gard par le Festival Cinéma d’Alès – Itinérances.
- Hollywood mon amour : Après les albums de Nouvelle Vague, Marc Collin revisite les chansons de films des années 80 interprétées par différentes chanteuses telles que Yael Naim ou Juliette Lewis.
- Trilogie Le Parrain – BluRay : F.F. Coppola a supervisé en personne la remasterisation haute définition de sa célèbre trilogie maintenant disponible en BluRay pour le prix du coffret DVD d’époque dont la première version était épuisée depuis longtemps. Le BluRay se démocratise un plus avec de très bons lecteurs (SONY par exemple…) vendus aux alentours de 250 €. Seuls les écrans plasmas Full HD 1080p restent encore très chers.
- Actu des Arcades : Rumba enfin sur Alès ; Coluche, l’histoire d’un mec mais aussi Tonnerre sous les Tropiques et toujours à l’affiche La Loi et l’Ordre, Vicky Cristina Barcelona de Woody Allen, Entre les Murs.

Dossier : 10^ème Rencontres Internationales du Cinéma des Antipodes

Les Rencontres Internationales du Cinéma des Antipodes fêtent leur 10^ème édition. Nos envoyés spéciaux nous racontent tout, surtout ce qui n’est pas sur le site du festival www.festivaldesantipodes.org ou dans l’émission Les Voyeurs #8, et nous éclairent sur la programmation:

- Courts métrages en compétition
- Hommage au festival de Clermont-Ferrand
- Longs métrages

• All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane de Louise Alston
• Apron Strings de Sima Urale
• Au-delà de l’illusion de Gillian Armstrong
• Braquage à l’Anglaise de Roger Donaldson
• Corroboree de Ben Hackworth
• Dancing Queens de Darren Ashton
• Jindabyne de Ray Lawrence
• Le Dragon des mers de Jay Russell
• Mad Max de George Miller
• Romulus my Father de Richard Roxburgh
• Second-Hand Wedding de Paul Murphy
• The Bet de Mark Lee
• The Black Balloon d’Elissa Down
• The Lunatics’ Ball de Michael Thorp
• Three Blind Mice de Matthew Newton
• Traitor de Jeffrey Nachmanoff
• Two Hands de Gregor Jordan

- Documentaires

• Gulpilil, One Red Blood de Darlene Johnson
• Le Gendarme Citron de Gilles Dagneau
• Reframing Papua New Guinea de Ian Lang
• Spirit Stones d’Allan Collins
• Sur les traces de la fourmi à miel de Valérie Mégard
• The Oasis de Ian Darling
• We Don’t Call Them Blackboys Anymore de Dominique Masson & Laurence Fosse

Et puisqu’on parle du cinéma australien et néo-zélandais, notons la sortie de Australia de Baz Luhrmann le 24 décembre prochain ainsi que le tournage de Bilbo le Hobbit orchestré par Peter Jackson.

La BO de la semaine

Pork Chop Express (3:54) composé par John Carpenter, extrait du film Les Aventures de Jack Burton dans les griffes du Mandarin (Big Trouble in Little China – 1986) réalisé par lui-même.

Bienvenue au Drive in

Maniac de William Lustig

Musique
The Go-Betweens : Is There Anything I Could Do ?
The Vines : Highly Envolved

Présentation : Erik Antolin, Cédric Cance, Julie Ezmiro
A St-Tropez : Jan Jouvert, Michel Olivier
Technique : Jérémie Adrian

Dirección: Roger Donaldson
País: UK
Año: 2008.
Género: Acción, thriller.
Interpretación: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner, Alki David, Michael Jibson, Richard Lintern, Don Gallagher, David Suchet.
Guión: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais (Historia: George McIndoe, Aaron Shuster)
Producción: Arclight Films / Mosaic Media Group / Omnilab / Relativity Media / Skyline
Música: J. Peter Robinson
Fotografía: Michael Coulter

The bank job está basada en hechos reales sobre un famoso robo en el Loyd’s Bank de Londres en 1971 y que no logró aclararse, ya que unas comprometedoras fotos de un miembro real que se encontraban en el banco, actuaron como “elemento disuasorio” para la policía.

Hablar de Jason Statham es como hablar de ostias, de policías corruptos, de robos a bancos y de más ostias, con alguna trama amorosa que su papel de tío duro (su cara así lo dice) no le pega mucho.

“The bank job” es una película que estaba esperando como agua de mayo, pero como no veía ningún screener, ni anuncio, ni en el cine ni nada, pues me conforme con esperar, pero esta mañana moneando por internet (que maravilloso es esto eh?) he visto que estaba en versión original subtitulada y me ha bajado.

¿Decepción?, nunca se puede hablar de decepción siendo Jason el protagonista, ya que para mi hace películas primarias, ostias y mujeres, que es lo que al espectador de toda clase le gusta. Asique si queréis ver una película de ladrones con un toque de thriller… os la recomiendo.

Inte sedan Sean Connery, paketet från paradiset, gnässade omkring i “Jakten på Röd oktober” har jag suttit så på helspänn inför en rulle om storpolitik. Men igår blev det lite oväntat nagelbitande och härligt kissnödig spänning i Roger Donaldsons “Tretton dagar” från 2000. Den införskaffade jag för 30 spänn härförleden och hyste inga större förhoppningar inför. Ärligt talat tog jag den för att den var så billig: två och en halv timmes thriller (plus extramateriel) för glasspengar – det kunde man ju alltid ha hemma på lager för en tråkig eftermiddag. Tänkte jag, köpte och lade undan.

ur Tretton dagar

Igår var det dags. Jag blev positivt överraskad. Filmen handlar om de tretton dagar i oktober 1962 då USA upptäckte att ryssarna placerat ut kärnvapen på Kuba. Det är ingen actionrulle, det är en pratrulle. det snackas i parti och minut, men det är spännande. Det är storpolitik, det är världen på randen till ett kärnvapenkrig, det är ett evigt förhandlande och förhalande och analyserande – alltmedan spänningen stiger och man undrar vem som ska göra nästa utspel. Jo, träbocken Kevin Costner är med och gör en biroll på ofattbart bräkig amerikanska. Bruce Greenwood, som jag tidigare bara sett som ett pretty face från romantiska kärringrullar, gör ett oväntat bra porträtt som Kennedy. Det är en välgjord och bra film om man har ro att slå ned arslet några timmar och koncentrera sig. Men vill man ha krigsrullar där det smäller och dundrar och likdelar far som fyrverkerier över rutan är detta inte en film för er. No way.

Själv tyckte jag den var jäkligt spännande.

Nu är det söndag, dags att ta itu med de där ekstolarna jag surrade om häromdagen. De står och blänger anklagande mot mig, alla fyra. Först ska stolstygen sprättas bort. Jag får hämta nåt slags verktyg. Adjö.